MOSCOW, July 16. /TASS/. Kiev has not submitted for discussion in the Contact Group new proposals on amendments to Ukraine’s constitution, the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR) envoy Vladislav Deinego said on Thursday.
"Neither the first not the second [draft laws] was submitted for discussion in the Contact Group. Both draft laws from July 1 and from July 15 contradict the Package of measures because they were submitted for consideration with violation of procedure envisaged by the Minsk accords," Luhansk Inform Center quoted Deinego as saying.
"Consequently neither first not second draft law will absolutely not be considered as implementation of the Package of measures," Deinego stressed.
"If the issue of status [of self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk republics] was mentioned in transitional provisions of the draft law on amendments, the new version transferred the phrase from the transitional provisions of the draft law to transitional provisions of the constitution itself," the envoy said.
"Transitional provisions are not binding, and the Package of measures envisages securing the status of separate areas of Lugansk region on the constant basis," Deinego continued, adding that Kiev is once again imitating the implementation of the Minsk agreements.
"[Kiev] is again imitating the implementation of the Minsk agreements. There is no permanent status, no implementation of the status. There is only a declaration that sometime something will be done. The constitution itself does not envisage establishing such federal subjects as separate areas. Even if this [draft] law is adopted, it will be stopped by constitutional court because it goes against the constitution. It is clearly the declaration that cannot be fulfilled and the imitation of implementing the Package of measures," Deinego stressed.
Minsk agreements on Ukraine
The Minsk accords on the Ukrainian settlement were signed on February 12, after negotiations in the so-called "Normandy format" in the Belarusian capital Minsk, bringing together Russian President Vladimir Putin, French President Francois Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. The talks lasted for around 14 hours. Simultaneously, a meeting of the Contact Group on Ukrainian settlement was held in Minsk.
The Minsk agreements envisage ceasefire, heavy weaponry withdrawal, prisoner exchange, local elections in Donbas, constitutional reform in Ukraine and establishing working sub-groups on security, political, economy and humanitarian components of the Minsk accords.
The Ukrainian forces and the self-defense forces of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk republics have repeatedly accused each other of violating ceasefire and other points of the Minsk agreements.